Whereas I, _______ (say your name), desiring NOT to be the LAST human without a presence on/in/of the World Wide Web, do hereby establish this digital outpost, and claim it in the name of _______ (say your name again).

Whew . . . glad THAT’s over with. Now all I have to do is . . . um, well,  . . . (wait, I know this) . . . oh yeah, BE ORIGINAL! Yeah, that’s it.

[waiting for inspiration to strike]

[waiting . . .]

Crap. Nothing. Grrr…

Well, in lieu of dazzling originality, the following will have to suffice –

For my 4th or 5th Christmas, I received the Marx American Revolutionary War playset, with its blue plastic Continental and red plastic British troops, together with a cannon that shot plastic cannonballs, and various rocks, trees and campfires. Possibly my most favoritest Christmas present of all time!

From other Marx playsets (ACW, Alamo, Ft Apache, WW2) to Monogram tank kits with figures, from battles in my father’s loam pile in the back yard, to more fragile Historex figure kits that were destined for only the display cabinet, my interest in miniature depictions of fighting men has been constant from an early age.

My folks enjoyed history, and Dad’s employer had a two-week shut-down every July. Family vacations usually involved visits to historical sites, whose museums often contained dioramas of forts, ships, cannons and most importantly, men in uniform. Fort Ticonderoga, Gettysburg, Yorktown, Fort Henry – all are etched in my memory. I’ve revisited a few sites with my family, but the flame does not burn as bright. Although when my son, after studying Gettysburg in school, suggested a visit, we were in the car and on our way within the week, and had a memorable 3-day trip.

Picture books of military uniforms became a staple of holiday and birthday gift giving to me, including Peter Blum’s “Little Blue Book”, a Grail item that has pride of place in my library. Griffing and Troiani books, and the occasional print, have continued the practice in subsequent years, along with the occasional figure suggestion.

Strangely, W. Britians figures did not play a prominent role in my youthful maneuvers. Like most boys, I received a couple sets, but did not ask for more. There is a family story wherein a grandmother supposedly threw out an uncle’s sizable collection of early Britians. There’s scant proof of this heinous crime, but I can affirm that years later, that grandmother’s daughter sold a big box of Marx men and accessories at a church tag sale, while the box’s owner was away at university. Coincidence, or DNA-induced bad decisions – let the reader decide! (To be sure, forgiveness has been a long time coming . . . especially since several of the figures belonged to a buddy, who reminds me of HIS loss at every opportunity!)

Real life – school, girls, sports, and later, work – conspired to dim (but not snuff) my interests for a while. While wandering around a book store in the new city where I lived and worked, I happened upon a copy of Military Modeling (US version) in the magazine rack. On the cover was a diorama of German troops leaping from a halftrack, by some guy named Shep Paine – in an instant, the dormant flame was an inferno of rejuvenated interest in figures and armor. The mailman was soon lugging to my door boxes from Imrie-Risley and Santos Models (my Historex & Humbrol connection), and I sought out every hobby shop in the area.

My rudimentary figure painting efforts were a solitary respite from the frenzy of career, continuing studies, and later, marriage and children. Much like Republicans in Massachusetts, I understood that other painters existed, but I had yet to actually meet any. Al Gore hadn’t been invented yet, so there was no Interweb available to facilitate contact with people of similar interests.

All that changed when some guy named Al called and invited me to a model club meeting. He had seen some IR figures – RevWar mostly – I had put in the local library’s display case, and mentioned that he and a couple other guys in the club also painted figures. On a warn June evening, I met other serious figure painters for the first time, and was welcomed into their merry little band. Many years later, these gentlemen remain close friends and constant companions, and my life would be infinitely poorer for not having met them.

During my trek along the paths of figure painting and model making, I’ve met and spent meaningful time with some extraordinary people, I’ve come to appreciate our wonderful junction of “love of history” and “love of toys”, and I’ve worked to improve my painting and modeling skills and artistry. Admittedly, there are worse ways of spending one’s time. I look forward to sharing the journey with others via the pages of this blog. Thanks for your interest!